Converting Lieutenant Titus into a Captain for my Kill Team

I’d had this idea swimming around for some time, ever since going to a kitbash day at Bristol Independent Gaming and acquiring the huge sword from a Sisters of Battle Paragon Warsuit .

The idea is for this Captain to lead the Killteam I kitbashed a few years ago, representing a custom Chapter called The Warders of the Emperor's Heart:

These conversions include all sorts of spare parts, including some banners, parchments and a book (held in the hand of the marine third from left) from the old Skaven Plague Monks. A couple of weeks ago I spotted a new-on-sprue Lieutenant Titus for a very reasonable price on eBay, and then once I’d located the sword in the box I’d stashed it, I raided my bits box last Sunday afternoon and got converting.

Image example copyright Games Workshop

The only parts I retained from the original Titus were his torso and legs, and his holster and backpack. These all had prominent Ultramarines icons (kneepad, chest aquila and backpack boss) which I sanded away with increasingly finer grade sanding sticks.

For the arms, I didn’t have any lefthand pistol arms, so it was a case of cutting off a power sword from a Jump Pack Intercessor’s arm, trimming the hilt to form a pistol grip, and attaching a plasma pistol which was originally right-hand.

The sword hand was at least separate from any arm, so with a little trimming of the join, I could pin it to the wrist of a suitably posed right arm (having sawn off the original bolt pistol). I had several heads to choose from, so I found a suitably angry one (simply changing the direction he's facing really transforms the pose of the whole model), and a spare helmet to attach at the hip. A bit of extra detail was added with Terminator honours and purity seals, plus a tilt shield.

For the base, I drilled a couple of holes to secure the razor wire in place, painted the whole surface with a thick layer of Vallejo ground texture and popped in a few Citadel skulls while it was still wet, along with some miniature ceramic bricks.

I’d originally thought of giving him a ridiculously large banner, but I figured that it would be at odds with his ‘action pose’, so I went with a ridiculously large backpack crest instead, made from a spare open book and a banner topper which I think is from an Age of Sigmar kit, but someone else will know, I’m sure! At the last minute I also decided to trim away the large fleur de lis above the hilt of the sword to make it a bit less obviously Sisters of Battle. Once the model was primed, it looked much more coherent:

At the end of a weekday painting session I made some time to airbrush on some basecoats – GW The Fang followed by a Zenithal layer of GW Russ Grey – I don’t have many paints from that range, as nowadays I mostly use Pro Acryl, but I kept those airbrush colours in case I need to do any Space Wolves for a client. The base was lightly airbrushed with Pro Acryl Dark Umber, allowing a little overspray onto the feet to create a very simple basis for some weathering.

All the remaining painting was completed with Pro Acryl colours, with the exception of the armour edge highlights which were Russ Grey and Fenrisian Grey. The decals (Gothic script and crossed swords) are from The Mighty Brush, with one GW Biel Tan Aeldari heart as part of the chapter icon.

This was a really fun project, and I think he'll stand very nicely with the rest of the team - at some point I think I'll order a custom name plate for his base - once I've thought of a name for him!